Ginetta wins Rockingham opener

With the G50Z not yet homologated and running as an Invitation Class entry, it was Lester and Simonsen who emerged on top in championship terms, despite finishing four seconds adrift at the chequered flag.

Wilcox and Burton were delighted with third overall and GT3 class second. Burton made a blinding start to pick up three places on the opening lap, and handed over to Wilcox with the Ferrari a solid fifth.

"Adam did a fantastic job to lead the class until three minutes from the end," said Burton, "and the team did a great job in preparing a reliable car. After all the bad luck we've had this is a great boost."

Howard and Smyth continued their season-long progress up the leaderboard with fourth place overall and the final slot on the GT3 podium, with Brown and his new driving partner Gregor Fisken next up, ahead of the Chris Hyman/Paul Warren Chad Ferrari and the RPM Ford GT of Philip Walker and Michael Bentwood, which finished a lap down after an unscheduled pit stop following a collision at Brook with the GT4 Ginetta of Gary Simms.

Erstwhile championship leaders Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott went out after 21 laps when their Viper broke a driveshaft. Other mechanical casualties were the Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin MTECH Ferrari and the Jones brothers' Preci-Spark Ascari.

GT4 category points leaders Nigel Moore and Jody Firth scored their fourth class race win from five starts with an untroubled drive in their Team WFR Ginetta. Their closest rivals, Simms and Hunter Abbott, were in trouble right from the start, Gary losing time with a fourth-lap spin which dropped him to the tail of the field.

As Moore romped away into the class lead ahead of Ian Stinton's Stark Racing Ginetta, Simms did his best to make up the deficit until the 21st lap collision which holed his car's radiator and ended his race.

Moore took over to win by a lap from the Stinton/Mike Thomas car, a confidence boost ahead of the 17-year-old's looming Le Mans debut.

"Jody made an excellent start to the race," said Moore, "He pulled a decent gap and all I had to do really was to stay out there and finish. The team did really well, the car was excellent."

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